The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-09
A BIG BAG OF DEER.
Col. Glider Tells a Wonderful Story
About Day of Sport.
From the Nerr YORK. Star

From the Ne1C York Star.
One OF the stories told with pride by Col
Glider and Lieut.. Griffiths and which is
vouched for by them, was Of a wonderful
bag of deer on the Nelson river, while they
were on the road to Hudson Bay last Oct0-
Der. Their voyage by boat had been unin-
terTupted to a'point POO miles southwest of
York Factory, when suddenly one night the
river froze over, and navigation was closed
for the season. They were delayed day
or two in preparing sleds for the remainder
of the journey, and the ice became several
inches thick, as the weather had developed
a regular cold snap.
While in camp one morning thew were
awakened about daylight by distant crack
ling on the ice, and a shifting and snorting
in the frosty air. Looking in the direction
of the mysterious voices, they were aston
ished to behold "a magnificent herd of rein
deer crossing the river on the ice. The ami
mails were emigrating southwark to find a
good winter feeding ground. The herd was
scattered along for quite distance, the
animals being two or three abreast, and in
order so regular as to attract attention for
the resemblance to cavalry on march.
A big, bold buck was in the lead, and the
sight of so much wild game in one body was
a rare treat to the travellers, who had been
accustomed to buy their venison in Wash
ington Market at high prices. The large
branching antlers of the deer glistened in
the first slant rays of the morning sun
while they tossed their heads proudly in the
air There were not less than 200 animals
in. the herd, and their sides looked sleek and
fat.
Every man in camp was aroused ard eX
cited in an instant, and they seized their
guns and commenced to crawl around in
the snow to gain advantageous positions in
case the herd should come near. One Of the
Indians hoisted a red handkerchief on pole,
the animals sighted it at once and stopped.
After stamping the ground for awhile and
shifting the air the curiosity of the deer got
the better of them, and they gradually APP
preached the camp in compact mass to
within 100 yards. At prearranged signal
from Col Glider there was q tremendous ex-
plosion. which echoed far and wide in the
forests. and the twelve breech-loading Win
chester rifles commenced their deadly work.
Round after round was fired, the leaden
hail crashing into the terror-strcken ami
mails as long as one remained in sight. Rein
deer fell right and left and in twos and
threes and half dozens until there was a
dark mass of carcasseS and the snow was
wet with blood for rods around. When the
smoke cleared away the ten Indian boatmen
drew their dangerous looking knives and
rushed among the dead and wounded, cut
ting the throats of the deer to make sure of
them anu 10 Dtllellb INC iltttb NY lBACou-itb-
ting. Several poor animals with broken
legs and injured backs crawled into the
woods. but the Indians took the trail and
captured them. The carcasses were brought
TO camp and dressed and cached upon high
platform Of poles TO await the return trip.
There were just forty-cight dead reindeer
in that bag, and Lieut. Grifilths win make
his affidavit TO the fact. 1t was the biggest
day for sport recorded during the whole
four months travel, and probably its equal
has never been known anywhere around the
world. Even tho celebrated Gordon Cum
minr could not boast of foity-eight deer
bagged in one day These reindeer were
fat. and the meat was excellent eating. The
animals were estimated TO weigh about 100
pounds EACH the weight being readily ascer-
tanned by balancing q man OF that known
weight at one end of a plank, and deer on
the other end. The venison was placed on
the platform to keep the wolves from de
vouring it, and when the travellers returned
several weeks later the meat was found
frozen hard and well preserved.